Merchandise display



April 21, 1953 R. K. BARTON MERCHANDISE DISPLAY Filed April s. 1952 FIG. 3

INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 21, 1953 MERCHANDISE DISPLAY Rufus K. Barton, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Barton Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application April 3, 1952*, Serial'No. 280,299 1o Claims. (Cilaos- 77) This invention relates in general to merchandise display devices and more particularly to a novel container for disposition upon a counter, shelf or the like to contain a plurality of articles readily available for selection and removal by the customer, as is a common arrangement in self-service stores.

.It is the main object to display a substantial number of merchandise boxes or the like, whether stable or not, in stacks, the top units of which are readily accessiblel to purchasers but the lower units are vnot likely to be accidentally dislodged.

vIt is a further object to provide identification or advertising members for each variety of merchandise held by the container, and preferably such members are readily changeable and adjustable and form a part of the container for holding the merchandise units in place.

It is an additional object to provide a device of the character stated of low cost; simple in structure; of light weight to be portable for transfer to any selected selling` location; and economical in space occupied on the counter or shelf.

These and other detailed objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of a display device constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same.

I Figure 3 is a top plan view drawn to a smaller scale.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional Viewv taken along line 4;4 of Figure 1.

'The merchandise display device comprises a container or basket of wire construction having side walls 2, 2', a rear wall 3, a bottom wall 4 and being open to the top vand front for easy access to its contents. Side walls 2, 2 and bottom wall 4 are defined by a plurality of parallel, generally U-shaped'wire sections 5, and rear wall 3 comprises upstanding legs of angle-shaped wire sections 6, the lower legs of which extend forwardly in immediate overlying, mesh-forming relation to the central portions of wires 5, being secured thereto by welding or soldering to com'- plete bottom wall 4. TheV upstanding legs of wires 5 are of gradually decreasing height from the rear toward the front ofthe container so that side walls 2, 2' decrease in depth forwardly. The upper ends of upstanding legs of wires 5, 6 are secured to a frame-rigidifying member 1 of a single length of wire joined at its ends. Wire 'I provides the top portion of rear wall 3 and 2 side walls 2, 2 and is bent downwardly forwardly of the latter at 8, 8', inclining forwardly toward their lower ends and terminating at horizontally aligned points spaced downwardly of the plane of bottom wall 4 and connected by a transverse portion 9.

' Secured to transverse section 9 adjacent each side rod Yportion 8, '8' are the forward endsoi base rods I0, I0', which are rearwardly directed and rigidly fixed at A to the rearwardmost wire Section5 (see Figure 2). Rods I0, I0', in conjunction with transverse section 9, form the support base for the device and cause bottom wall 4 to be presented in a rearwardly and downwardly inclined plane.

The container is divided into two compartments II, I2 by a partition or dividing wall I3 disposed intermediate side walls 2, 2 and parallel thereto. Partition I3 is comprised of a wire frame having a heavy wire I5 forming its upperV margin and bentforwardly of the partition I3 for extension downwardly, parallel to side-rod portions 8, 8' and is secured by its forward lower end to transverse section 9.

Disposed crosswise to thefront of the container is a relatively narrow, iiat bar or plate I6 which is turned rearwardly and then inwardly at each of its ends as at Il, Il' for slidable, gripping engagement with side rod portions 8, 8. Bar I6 may be easily shifted into any selected position throughout the length of side rod portions 8, 8', being securely maintained in such position by the snug, frictional engagement with side rods 8, 8.

Secured at their bases as by rivets I8 to the forward face of bar I6 are spaced, preferably relatively shallow cylindrical receptacles or containers I9 of empty merchandise units 20, opening forwardly and having closures 2! removably mounted thereon. The normal top face of each closure 2I will be positioned so that a purchaser may easily read informational or advertising matter inscribed or otherwise imprinted thereon, such as to the type, character, brand, color and the like of merchandise held by the container.

f For purposes of illustration only, the drawing herein reveals four display units 20 but any number desired could be utilized, depending upon the particular character and size of the merchandise to be sold.

In use, articles of merchandise '22 corresponding to empty receptacles 28 are stacked compactly in vertical columns in compartments II, I2 of the container in alignment, front to rear, with the related display units 2U, so that a purchaser mayobtain thedesired article by takingrthe same from the top of a stack rearwardly of that display unit 20 which shows the article wanted. As an example only, the articles 22 shown in the drawing are identical in character to units 2li, and represent a well-known type of shoe polish can. In this instance each of the advertising or display units 2B could indicate a different color, but yet be of the same brand, whereby the container would hold a supply of four different stacks. Since closures 2i are removable, the relative location of the same and their associated supply of stock in the container could be changed readily by shifting the cover. Thus, in those cases wherein the actual package or container for the articles of merchandise 22 are adaptable for securernent to bar I6, for display purposes, such would be the preferable course, since any customer-familiarity with the package could be availed of. However, if the particular package or container is not readily adaptable for such purpose, display units of the character herein described could be utilized, with appropriate advertisingv matter being supplied on closures 2l.

By shifting bar I6 vertically, as above described, advertising or display units 2B may be presented at diierent levels. Because of the rearward and downward slope of bottom ywall 4, articles of merchandise 22 will be inclined to slide rearwardly so that any accidental disturbance of the cans will not cause them to be dislodged from the container, but will cause them to remain in stable stacks.

The details of construction may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

l. A container for a plurality of boxes of merchandise each including an individual cover, comprising spaced side walls, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and being generally open at its top and front, a part extending transversely between the forward margins of the side walls across the open front end of the container, and a plurality of merchandise identifying devices mounted on said part, each of said devices including an observable box cover removably mounted on said part and corresponding to a cover of one or more of the boxes to be received in the container, whereby the identification of the contents of the container may be varied in accordance with the boxes in the container by ready application of selected covers to said part.

2. A display device comprising a container for merchandise receptacles, having a pair of side walls, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and being generally open at its top and front, a bar extending transversely between the forward margins of the side walls across the open iront end of the container, a plurality of merchandise receptacles fixed to said bar, each of said receptacles open ing forwardly, a closure for each receptacle suitably inscribed with information relative to the related merchandise, said closures being readily detachable from and applicable to said receptacles, whereby the relative position of the closures upon the bar may be selectively varied.

3. A display container for holding a plurality of substantially upright stacks of relatively shallow boxes of merchandise placed one on top of the other, with relatively wide tops and bottoms facing upwardly and downwardly respectively, comprising a bottom sloping from the front of the container downwardly towards the rear of the container and upon which the bottoms of the lower boxes of the stacks may rest, upright elements at the rear and sides of said bottom for holding the boxes against movement from the container rearwardly or sidewardly, a member extending across the front of the container, and secured to upright elements at each side of the container, boxes of the kind described fixed to the front of said member with their wide flat tops facing outwardly of the container and disposed with their wide flat faces substantially upright, said member and the boxes secured thereto forming a permanent retainer for boxes which may be stacked in the container to prevent the movement of the lower boxes of such stacks forwardly from the container.

4. A container as described in claim 3 wherein the retainer forming boxes have readily removable covers which may be shifted from box to box to accurately indicate the nature of the boxes stacked behind the bar.

5. A container as described in claim 3 in which the member extending across the front of the container is slidable vertically upon the elements to which it is secured.

6. A display device comprising a merchandise container having a pair of side walls, arear Wall, a bottom wall, and being open at its top and front, a support base for said container disposed appreciably below the bottom wall at its front end to cause same to incline rearwardly and downwardly, and a merchandise-indicator carrier extending' across the open front of the container and movable to different levels thereon.

' 7. A container for displaying a plurality of shallow and relatively wide merchandise packages, having a pair of side walls, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and being open at its top and front. and having a support base disposed appreciably below the bottom wall at its front end to cause the bottom wall to incline rearwardly and downwardly, and merchandise-indicating means extending transversely across the open front of the container between the side walls and comprising units of the merchandise packages arranged edge to edge and affixed to the container.

8. A display device comprising a merchandise container having a pair of side walls, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and being open at its top and front, and having a support'base disposed appreciably below the bottom wallV at its front end to cause same to incline rearwardly and downwardly, a vertical member disposed forwardly of each side wall, a bar extending transversely between lateral members and slidably mounted therein, and merchandise-advertising means mounted on said bar.

9. A display device for upright stacks of dat round boxes of merchandise comprising a container having a pair of side walls, a rear wall, a bottom wall, and being open at its top and front, a vertical side rod member disposed forwardly of each side wall being connected thereto and extending at its lower end to a point spaced downwardly from the container bottom wall, a support base connected to said side rods at their lower end and to the bottom wall adjacent its rearward end for causing said bottom wall to assume a rearwardly and downwardly inclined position, a relatively narrow, flat bar extending transversely between said side rods for disposition across the open Lfront of the container, each end of said bars being formed for slidable, gripping engagement with said side rods for selected positionment of the bar thrughoutthe length of said side rods, and a plurality of empty boxes of the type to be stacked disposed along said bar, each of said boxes being securely xed to the outer face of the bar and opening forwardly, and a lid for each box imprinted with information concerning the merchandise, the lids being readily applied to and detached from any of the empty boxes.

10. A container and display device for a plurality of boxes of merchandise, said device comprising spaced upright side and rear walls, and being generally open at its front, an elongated part extending transversely between the side walls across the lower portion of the front of the device, a plurality of merchandise box-retaining members xed to said part, and an identifying element detachably carried at the front of each of said members, said members and elements corresponding in width to the width of the boxes t be displaced, there being a merchandise box support at the rear of said members substantially iiat from side to side of the device and inclined downwardly from the front to the rear of the device.

RUFUS K. BARTON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,156,644 Vetter Oct. 12, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 532,735 Germany Sept. 2, 1931 

